RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - As a North Carolina commission considers the fate of three prominent Confederate monuments, the attorney representing the panel says it has the power to move them but must meet certain criteria under state law.
The N.C. Historical Commission has been considering a formal request from late last year by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper to move three monuments from the state’s Capitol grounds to a historic battlefield site 45 miles (72 kilometers) away. Whether the panel can move the statues under a 2015 monuments law has been debated by elected officials and legal scholars.
The short answer is yes, according to advice from the state attorney general’s office. But as with all legal matters, especially ones carrying such emotional baggage, the devil is in the details.
The commission must find that relocation is necessary to preserve the monument and that the new site is of similar prominence, honor, visibility and availability, the letter says. It also may recommend that the monuments be reinterpreted, but they can’t be altered in that process.
“On several occasions, the commissions have exercised discretion in evaluating the appropriateness of locations for memorials, and suggesting alternative memorials and locations,” Special Deputy Attorney General Karen Blum wrote in the April advisory letter. “I can discern no reason why the Historical Commission cannot do the same (under current law), so long as the commission complies with other statutory requirements set forth …”
She’s referring to a state law approved by the Republican-controlled General Assembly in 2015 that prevents the permanent removal of most Confederate monuments - described as “objects of remembrance” - on state and local property without legislative approval. It also severely limits their relocation, requiring that a move is necessary for their preservation or because of construction.
The September 2017 request from Cooper’s administration says the monuments must be moved to ensure their preservation but doesn’t say why they’re in danger. It proposes moving them to the Bentonville Battlefield Historic Site.
Each monument was erected decades after the end of the Civil War: the Capitol Confederate Monument, dedicated in May 1895; the Henry Lawson Wyatt Monument, dedicated in June 1912; and the North Carolina Confederacy Monument, dedicated in June 1914.
As far as prominence, a letter from the state historic preservation officer shows that the Bentonville Battlefield attracts about half the visitors that the state Capitol grounds do, with the exception of the Civil War’s 150th anniversary year of 2014-2015. That year, almost 113,000 visitors came to the battlefield and almost 106,000 to the Capitol grounds.
In 2016-2017, the battlefield attracted 47,000 visitors and while almost 104,000 went to the Capitol grounds, according to the letter from Kevin Cherry, the state historic preservation officer and deputy secretary of the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
The commission’s study committee on Confederate monuments was supposed to make its recommendation in April, but that was delayed until May. It’s still not certain when the decision will be made.
Michele Walker, spokeswoman for the state Department of Cultural and Natural Resources, said in an email Friday that the committee hasn’t set a date to meet and make its recommendation to the full commission, which will decide whether state law allows relocation of the statues.
Walker said the committee is reviewing 7,000 public comments along with information from historians and legal scholars. “This is a significant issue, and we believe the members are taking their responsibility very seriously and being careful and deliberate in making their decision,” she said in an email.
Cooper’s spokesman, Jamal Little, said the 2015 law made decisions about moving monuments more complex. “The commission is taking the time to work through an open and respectful process,” he said in an email.
___
Follow Martha Waggoner at http://twitter.com/mjwaggonernc
Please read our comment policy before commenting.